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Evan E. Settle 



April 21-June 5, 1900 




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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



Evan E. Settle 

(Late a Representative from Kentucky), 



DM IYI.KHI) l\ THE 




iNTATI 



FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, 
FIRST SESSION. 



WASHINGTON: 

( ; O V E K N M E NT PRINTING O F P I C 1 
I9OO. 



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CONTENTS. 



Page. 
5 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

Address of Mr. Gayle, of Kentucky 

Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia x r 

Address of Mr. Robinson, of Indiana I4 

Address of Mr. Cowherd, of Missouri Iq 

Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia 2 , 

Address of Mr. Mann, of Illinois 2 g 

Address of Mr. Pugh, of Kentucky ~ x 

Address of Mr. Berry, of Kentucky * 4 

Address of Mr. Griffith, of Indiana 3y 

Address of Mr. Smith, of Kentucky 4I 

Proceedings in the Senate 

Address of Mr. Lindsay, of Kentucky 4 g 

Address of Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire 53 

Address of Mr. Bate, of Tennessee g 2 

Address of Mr. Carter, of Montana 6 - 

Address of Mr. Deboe, of Kentucky 7I 

3 



Death of Hon, Evan E, Settle, 



Proceedings in the House. 

December 5, 1899. 

Mr. Smith of Kentucky. Mr." Speaker, on behalf of the Con- 
gressional delegation from Kentucky, I desire to announce the 
death of our late colleague, Hon. Evan E. Settle, a Repre- 
sentative from the Seventh district of the State of Kentucky 
in the Fifty- sixth Congress. At a later period in the session it 
is the purpose of the members from that State to request that a 
day be set apart to enable those members who desire to do so to 
pay special tribute to and pronounce eulogies upon the life of 
our deceased friend. 

For the present I desire to ask the adoption of the resolution 
I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The resolution will be read. 

The resolution was read, as follows: 

Be it resolved, That the House of Representatives learns with profound 
sorrow and regret of the death of Hon. Evan E. SETTLE, late a Repre- 
sentative from the Seventh district of Kentucky in the Fifty-sixth Con- 
gress, at his home in Owenton, on Thursday, November 16, 1899. 

Be it further resolved, That as a further mark of respect to Mr. Settle 
the House do now adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to ; and accordingly, 111 pursuance 
thereof, the House (at 6 o'clock and 24 minutes p. m. ) adjourned 
until Thursday next at 12 o'clock m. 

5 



6 Proceedings in the House. 

March 30, 1900. 

Mr. GaylE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the 

adoption of the following resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That Saturday, April 21, after the hour of 1 p. m., be devoted 
to eulogies on the late Representative Evan E. Settle, of the Seventh 
district of Kentucky. 

The Speaker. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The 
Chair hears none, and the order will be made. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

April 21, 1900. 

The Speaker. The Chair calls attention of the House to the 
special order set for 1 o'clock, which is the eulogies upon the 
life and character of the late Representative Settle of Ken- 
tucky, and will recognize the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. 
Gayle. 

Mr. Gayle. Mr. Speaker, I ask for the adoption of the reso- 
lutions which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended in order 
that suitable tribute be paid to the high character and eminent public 
services of the Hon. Evan E. SETTLE, late a distinguished member of 
the House of Representatives of the United States from the State of 
Kentucky. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, 
the House, at the conclusion of these memorial exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House transmit a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the family of the deceased statesman. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these proceedings to the Senate. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 



Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



Address of Mr. Gayle, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker: The sad duty devolves upon me of supple- 
menting the resolutions just offered with a brief summary of 
my predecessor's short but remarkable career. 

Born in Franklin County, Ky., in the year 1848, the earlier 
years of his life were spent in the cities of Frankfort and 
Louisville, Ky. He graduated from the Louisville Male High 
School at the age of 18, and immediately came to Owenton, 
Owen County, Ky., to begin the battle of life. He accepted 
the position of deputy county clerk, and a year later, by a 
special act of the Kentucky legislature, he was granted license 
to practice law. 

His unusual ability as a lawyer, combined with his ex- 
treme youth, attracted immediate attention, and he was soon 
the acknowledged leader of the Owenton bar. For thirty 
years he followed successfully the practice of law and was 
considered one of the most powerful advocates of his State. 
He served two terms as county prosecuting attorney and was 
elected for a third term, but resigned to accept a seat in the 
Kentucky legislature, where lie served with distinction for 
two terms. In 1894 lle became a candidate for Congress — 
virtually forced into the race by those who knew and ad- 
mired his ability and recognized Ins peculiar fitness for the 
office. Although defeated, he had conducted his canvass on 
such a high plane as to thoroughly win the admiration and 
n peel of his district, and the Democratic nomination for 
the Fifty-fifth Congress was procured with but little effort. 

A.S a proof of the high esteem in which he was held by 
his party, the nomination for the Fifty-sixth Congress was 



Address of Mr. Gayle, of Kentucky. 9 

given him without opposition. He represented a district 
that for more than half a century had been famous for the 
illustrious statesmen it had furnished. The eloquence of its 
Representatives had become proverbial. More was expected 
from the member from the ' ' Old Ashland ' ' district because of 
the fame of those who had gone before. 

I shall leave to those who were with him in the Fifty-fifth 
Congress to say how well he sustained the reputation of his 
district during his short career. There are few men that I can 
recall that, for so short a period of service in national politics, 
were more extraordinary than Evan E. Settle. A man of 
the highest order of intellect, quick, discriminating, compre- 
hensive. Possessing all the attractiveness of the orator, the 
impressions he made were deep and lasting. His memory was 
retentive, his voice clear and ringing, and his delivery pleasant, 
his manner and general bearing attractive, and his personal 
appearance in any assembly would command attention. His 
addresses on this floor and at the banquet tendered Governor 
Roosevelt at Chicago were sufficient to place his name on the 
national roster of orators. 

It is a peculiarly sad thought to contemplate the death of 
one so well fitted to render his country great service. Standing 
upon the threshold of a brilliant career; endowed with a 
strength and robustness of brain and body that gave him con- 
fidence in himself and his ability to gratify his highest ambition 
in public life; surrounded by a family he adored; firmly estab- 
lished in the hearts of his people, he confidently anticipated 
triumphs yet to be. His constant and exhausting labors for his 
party in the late bitter campaign in Kentucky had just ended — 
labors that had doubly endeared him to his part} 7 associates. 
He had just returned to his home for a few days' rest before 
coming to Washington to enter upon his official duties when he 



io Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

received a higher summons to ' ' come up hither. ' ' He passed 
away so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that we who knew and 
loved him best can even now scarcely realize that he is no more. 

We buried him in the little cemetery on a hill overlooking his 
modest home, among the scenes of his youth and early manhood, 
near those whom in life he loved so well, beneath the sod of his 
beloved " Sweet Owen;" and, though his career was finished be- 
fore it was well begun, we feel that his life has not been in vain. 
The sphere of his influence will extend beyond the grave, and 
others with whom the battle of life is not easy and the prospect 
at the beginning is not bright will learn from his life that true 
merit will win and that wealth is not always essential to politi- 
cal success. 

While the nation and his native State mourn his untimely 
death, it is upon his family that the severest blow has fallen. 
Whatever can be said of Evan E. Settle as lawyer, orator, 
and statesman, pales when compared with him as husband and 
father. It was only at his own fireside that his full measure 
could be taken. He was never happier than when surrounded 
by his loving wife and interesting children, and no days of labor 
ever so worried him, no problem ever so vexed him, that his 
mind and heart turned not to them, and a smile of peace 
wreathed his face when he heard the prattle of his little ones 
as his shadow fell across the threshold of his happy home. 

May the ' ' Father of the fatherless and the Judge of the 
widows" be with them and comfort them. 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia. 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia. 

Mr. Speaker: It is not usual for me to speak on such occa- 
sions in this House, nor would I make mere formal offering 
now, but with gratitude and love for a true and valued friend, 
"faithful and just to me," I would render heartfelt tribute to 
the memory of Evan E. Settle. Should it be the will of 
Heaven that I must be gathered to my fathers while serving in 
this high place, I would that no man should speak in my funeral 
or eulogy, save as moved hy like sentiments of affection and 
sorrow. 

Prior to our association in the Fifty-fifth Congress, which we 
entered together, I had no personal acquaintance with Mr. 
Settle. True, his reputation had been established as an able 
campaigner and eminent lawyer, but of his private character and 
personal history I knew nothing. Our acquaintance, however, 
rapidly ripened into friendship, which deepened and strength- 
ened until the end of his life. I was frequently his guest, and 
to him and his delightful family, loved by him with a devoted 
self-effacement next to adoration, I became indebted for many 
happy and profitable hours, his ready and varied learning, equip- 
ping and enriching the most splendid common sense, rendering 
his suggestions valuable on all important questions. Modest 
and reserved, 3-et vigilant and zealous, he asserted his own 
rights and protected the interests of those whom he represented. 
Studious and industrious, giving attention to substance as well 
as taste and style, he was eloquent and ornate without sacrifice 
of logic, sense, or force. Scrupulously correct and decorous in 
his intercourse with others, he was too magnanimous to offend 
the weakest, while his dauntless nobility of soul would defy and 



12 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

despise the strongest if that strength dared attempt wrong or 

oppression. 

It is often the misfortune of greatness to shrink and dwarf on 

near approach, but he was one of the few really great men I 

have ever known who appeared better and greater with longer 

and better acquaintance. He would have been at home in the 

ideal Congress described by the satirist as — 

The honored scene 
Of patriot deeds, where men of solemn mien, 
In virtue strong, in understanding clear, 
Earnest though courteous, and though smooth sincere, 
To gravest counsels lent the teeming hours, 
And gave their country all their mighty powers. 

Well do I remember the fateful day when the sad tidings of 
his death came, too late for me to reach his funeral, and how 
my soul went out in sympathy to his stricken family, most 
sorely bereaved by a loss irreparable to us all. Most deeply do 
I lament the seemingly untimely death which cut him down in 
the flower of his manhood and the meridian of his usefulness; 
but we ought more deeply to thank God that he lived, and no 
doubt accomplished the mission whereunto he was sent as com- 
pletely as erring mortals ever do; for I am persuaded that his 
life was well spent, and with the approval of Heaven he was 
called home in God's own time, leaving precepts, example, and 
achievements as a rich legacy not only to those near and dear 
to him, but to all his countrymen, whom he loved with patriotic 
fervor worthy of imitation, for next to the God he adored he 
loved his fellow-man. 

Ili^ brief hut brilliant career was at once a vivid revelation 
and an enduring object lesson to inculcate every manly virtue, 
and in living, quenchless light blazon the strength and beauty 
of lofty patriotism and spotless public character. His short 
but devoted life in the family circle was a benediction to his 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia. 13 

loved ones which will sustain, encourage, and bless his latest 
posterity. His example will lend inspiration to our youths to 
choose the paths of industry and integrity as the unfailing 
avenues to success and honor. His public course presents a 
perfect model for the study and emulation of statesmen. Untir- 
ing and insatiate in searching for knowledge, he always dis- 
criminated in its acquisition and use, verifying the proverb: 

Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a just 
man and he will increase in learning. 

Nor did he limit his knowledge nor confine his affection to 
the sordid and fleeting concerns of this life. He realized that 
"it is not all of life to live nor all of death to die;" that this 
ephemeral existence could not be the end of man. His whole 
life beamed forth ' ' the wisdom that is from above " — " first pure, 
then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy 
and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." 

With his sorrowing widow and children I share and mourn 
his loss, but with them I glory in the life that he lived, radi- 
ant and teeming with truth, benevolence, and virtue, and rejoice 
unutterably that he trod "the path of the just," which "is as a 
shining light that shineth more and more into the perfect day." 

Dear and honored friend, farewell, but not forever! Thy life 
has only begun. Though thy star has faded from earthly skies, 
it has already arisen to shine on a fairer shore. 

Bright be the place of thy soul; 

No lovelier spirit than thine 
Ere burst from its mortal control 

In the realms of the blessed to shine. 

May others like unto thee arise to teach and lead our people, 
glorify our Republic, and exalt our race. 



14 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



Address of Mr. Robinson, of Indiana. 

Mr. Speaker: Evan E. Settle was my friend, and I 
approach the subject of his eulogy fully conscious of one's 
weakness when he speaks of friend. I loved him, as all did 
who knew him well. Were I to select my close and early asso- 
ciates in the Fifty-fifth Congress, he would be among the first. 

Our association and mutual friendship bound us together 
with ' ' hoops of steel ' ' and enabled me to know him as he was 
and to learn those qualities that made his life that success 
' ' which fate reserves for a bright manhood. ' ' His career will 
remain an inspiration to the young. Not blessed with the 
favors of fortune, he won his way to a good education, and 
before he was of age entered the profession of law and graced 
it with his eloquence and ability till his death. 

He was honored by his people in ways befitting his high 
character — as county attorney, as member of the State legis- 
lature, as delegate to the Democratic national convention at 
St. Louis in 1888, and last was honored with a seat in Congress. 

From that time on I knew him, and in feelings shared the 
glory of his triumphs and success, for I regarded him as a 
brother. 

.Mr. SETTLE was early able to make his mark in the House of 
Representatives and gain an influence not usually accorded to 
a first term member. He justified the favors arid confidence 
shown him. 

Though a partisan, and by his assignment on the Election 
Committee compelled to argue partisan questions on the floor 
in a partisan way, yet he never uttered a word or sentiment — 
and I call every member here t<> witness— that stirred up party 



Address of Mr. Robinson, of Indiana. 15 

feelings in his discussions. Much of this was due to the per- 
sonality of the man. 

Mr. Settle was an orator among the orators of Kentucky, 
which State has furnished so many of finished culture. 

He was in demand at all manner of public speakings, and 
with a special devotion to his church he raised his eloquent 
voice on many occasions in Kentucky in her behalf. 

On the 1st day of June, 1898, on occasion of the Congress 
sweeping away the last vestige of political disabilities growing 
out of the war of the rebellion, Mr. Settle shed a luster on 
one of the happiest incidents of legislation of the memorable 
Fifty-fifth Congress. He uttered these beautiful sentiments: 

Mr. Speaker, I think when the permanent Record of this day's session 
is made up it would be incomplete indeed if some Representative from 
the South, some man who is supposed to be in sympathy with the Southern 
people in their present and their past relations to the General Govern- 
ment, did not avail himself of the opportunity to respond to the generous 
sentiments that have been uttered on the floor of the House by the gen- 
tleman from Ohio and the gentlemen from Iowa and Wisconsin in the 
conduct of this bill to-day, for notwithstanding we may all say this is a 
just bill and ought to have become a law years ago, yet we from the 
South must agree that it is none the less a generous bill ; and Southern 
Representatives should not hesitate so to declare in their places here, for 
had we been the victors we might not have been so generous as they. 

This bill is but the culmination of the course of events that have been 
gradually approaching this point for ten or fifteen years past. I have 
seen it in the present session. I have heard the great battle hymn of the 
South — " Dixey" — receive as generous applause in Northern capitals as 
was accorded to the "Star-Spangled Banner" and " Marching Through 
Georgia." And it came not from Southern sympathizers, but from the 
generous people of the North, who took that occasion to say, in this way, 
to their brethren at the South, "We embrace you and have learned to 
forget all past differences." [Applause.] 

I happened to be at a down-town theater the other evening. In the 
interval between the acts it has become the custom not to go out, but to 
remain and hear the orchestra discourse patriotic anthems and airs. After 
the band had ceased playing some gentleman arose and proposed " Three 
cheers for McKinley." The vast audience gave them with a will. Then 
three cheers were proposed for Dewey, the hero of Manila, which were 



16 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

also responded to. And then some gentleman, whom I took to be a mili- 
tary officer of rank, arose in his place, and, waving his hand in the air, 
said, "Three cheers for a united country!" Gentlemen, that sentiment 
caught me, and it caught that vast house. [Applause.] 

I thank God that I have lived to see this day. We sometimes thought 
that the great war between the States was an unmitigated evil, but in the 
providence of God it, accompanied by other agencies, has proved to be a 
great blessing. That war was not of chance or of accident. It came as 
the winds come and as the storms come and as all things else come — in 
response to the eternal purposes and behests of Him who " holds the wind 
in His fist and the hearts of men in the hollow of His hand." [Applause.] 

The beginning of the war was the acme of that sectional hate which had 
been growing ami increasing in bitterness for thirty years. The North had 
no love for the South, and the South had no respect for the North. The 
conflict was irrepressible. The world looked on at the magnificent display 
of courage and fortitude exhibited through four years of battle and strife, 
and while one rebel could not, as he thought in the beginning, wipe out 
five "Yankees," the sequel showed that he could put them to considerable 
exertion. [Laughter and applause.] 

When valor and courage and endurance shall no longer command the 
praise of men, when tribute shall be denied to those who endured privation 
without complaint and suffered all manner of sacrifices without murmur, 
then we might hesitate to unroll the curtain of that past and let its scenes 
pass in panorama before us. But Heaven forbid in this day, when one 
touch of nature has made us all akin, that I should fear in this presence to 
hold up for admirat : on the prowess of the gallant boys in the trenches and 
the field, wearing the blue or wearing the gray, who gave to the cause of 
their country their lives, their fort ones, and their sacred honor. [Applause.] 

But the end came at last. These Southern knights went down to their 
home, and many of them can not be reached by any provision of earthly 
statute now. 

"Many of those good knights are dust— 
Their good swords rust, 
Their souls are with the saints, we trust. " 

They went down to their desolated homes and despoiled fields, and 
without complaint they set aboul the task, the herculean task of rebuild- 
ing those waste places and restoring their ancient splendor. Her sons 
laid down their arms in good faith, and in the same spirit they laid their 
hearts upon the altar of their country and took their step to the music of 

the Union. I do not believe, gentlemen, that the American people were 
ever so united as they an- to-day. The men who stayed at home wire the 
last to forgive, hut tile men who foughl have always heen the first to for- 
get. I Applause. ] 

And now we arc hastened to tins era of good times by the war in which 



Address of Mr. Robinson, of Indiana. ij 

we find ourselves involved. We shall free Cuba, but we shall do more 
than that. We shall free ourselves. The greatest of English poets, in 
speaking of the divine quality of mercy, has said that— 

"It is twice blest : 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 
If we shall confer a gracious boon upon the people of that unhappy 
island, we shall receive a blessing from Heaven, such perhaps as we may 
not be able to contain. Out of this baptism of fire and blood wherewith 
we are now being baptized we shall come forth, I doubt not, new T men and 
new women, clean every whit, with sectional hate and sectional bitterness 
clean gone forever. [Applause.] 

That were a consummation devoutly to be wished; that were the sum- 
mum bonum, the great desideratum; that were well worth all the treasure 
we may expend and all the blood that may be shed. In the language of 
the great Kentucky editor, this war has already forever eliminated the 
sectional contest. There are thousands of old Confederates who are 
to-day happy in the thought that before they have been called to join the 
silent bivouac of the dead they have seen the North and the South united 
in battle array beneath the Stars and Stripes. 

"Flag of the free heart's hope and home! 
By angel hands to valor given! 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 

And all thy hues were born in heaven." 
[Applause.] 

The applause that greeted these patriotic sentiments were alike 
complimentary to the orator and to the members of the House. 
This Southern flame that warmed the hearts of all patriots on 
that day should be embalmed and perpetuated in this form and 
in the hearts of his countrymen as fitting gems of thought and 
patriotism, sparkling with the personal traits of the man and 
sustaining his fame and eulogy. 

In private life and in his public career his inspirations and 
aspirations were noble and manly and his record, thus molded, 
for statesmanship, unsullied honor, ability as a debater, eloquence 
as an orator, geniality and lovable spirit as a man, ma}- well be 
pointed to with pride in years to come by his loved ones and by 
his associates and friends. 

Brilliant as were his talents, eloquent as an orator, able as a 
H. Doc. 751 2 



18 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

lawyer, yet he shone the brightest in his family circle and in the 
circle of his friends. Modest and unassuming in his manners, 
yet he never did things by halves. Ardent in his labors, able 
and well equipped, he yielded to the demands of his party in 
Kentucky with his usual fidelity, and labored beyond human 
power till the end of the campaign in November, 1899, then 
succumbed and died, a sacrifice to the cause of his party. 



Address of Mr. Cowherd, of Missouri. 19 



Address of Mr. Cowherd, of Missouri. 

Mr. Speaker: There is an old proverb, sometimes misused, 
that bids us say naught but good of the dead. To me it seems 
that reverence for the dead, the affectionate regard which bids us 
to forget their faults and commemorate their virtues; the kindly 
sympathies that go from all good men and women to those who 
stand beside a new-made grave, are among the redeeming traits 
of our all too human lives. I have sometimes thought that the 
crush of our daily work in this rough world was apt to obscure 
the finer sensibilities of men. We too frequently veil sympathy 
behind indifference. We too frequently are accustomed to mask 
our love as though it were a fault. But in the presence of 
great sorrow these false growths are brushed aside and eyes 
that look through tears see with a clearer vision, and hearts that 
have throbbed with sorrow beat in kindlier unison. 

It seems to me a fitting thing that, when the stern angel of 
the bitter cup has pressed the sleeping potion to the lips of one 
who so lately moved and wrought among us, we should take a 
few brief hours from the press of business to embalm here in 
the record of our daily work the memory of his deeds and the 
tribute of our respect. 

It was my good fortune in the lottery for seats in the Fifty- 
fifth Congress to find that I was seated next to Evan E. Settle, 
of Kentucky, and as by that enforced proximity a chance 
acquaintance ripened into friendship I grew more and more to 
bless kind fortune that had given me such a neighbor. 

You all remember, who were here at that time, the extra ses- 
sion, occupied as it was upon a single measure and with tedious 
adjournments, gave but little opportunity to test the mettle of 
the men that came then for the first time to the House; and 



2 o Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

yet I well remember how, on the dull, dry question of how 
many davs the House could adjourn without the consent of the 
Senate, Air. Settle made a speech of such interest and force 
that it attracted at once the attention of the older and more 
observant members of the House. And later— in the succeed- 
ing session — when his kindly spirit found more congenial 
opportunity in the discussion on the bill referred to by the gen- 
tleman from Indiana [Mr. Robinson]— the bill providing for 
the removal of political disabilities of those who had taken part 
in the civil strife — he burst forth into such eloquent words that 
his place was at once fixed both in the minds of those who 
heard him and in the hearts of all his countrymen. 

Mr. Speaker, I believe I do no injustice to the living when I 
say that of all the men who came first to the House in the 
Fifty-fifth Congress no man at its close left it occupying a 
higher place in the minds of those who had met him on the 
floor and in the hearts of the people of the country than the 
man whose untimely death we mourn to-day. 

It is as true now as when the Roman said it, that orators are 
born, not made. And there was something in this man — some- 
thing other than the pleasing presence he possessed; something 
other than the keen logic that saw through the subtleties of 
every proposition; something other than that grace of diction 
that seemed to find always the fittest phrase and the most elo- 
quent expression — there was still that undefinable something 
which, reaching out to the minds and hearts of his audience, 
told them when he rose he was one of those who had a message 
to deliver. 

I do not remember ever to have heard him take part in those 
rancorous and acrimonious political debates that sometimes 
01 i in on the floor of this House. I never thought Ins was one 
of those spirits that loved to "ride the storm;" while he did 



Address of Mr. Cowherd, of Missouri. 2 1 

not shun, he did not seek controversy. I always thought his 
genial soul found its more fitting sphere in those occasions that 
not uufrequently occur when men lay aside political partisan- 
ship and rise to that broader plane of a common and united 
citizenship. 

Mr. Speaker, it occurred to me as I watched his career here 
in the House — knowing as I did his power of speech, and 
knowing also that he enjoyed the duller, but not less necessary, 
work of the committee — that there lay before him a broad field 
of future usefulness. And knowing also as I did the genial, 
social spirit of the man that loved so well that meeting here in 
friendly intercourse that forms, as we all know, the fairest 
portion of Congressional life, it seemed to me that in the atmos- 
phere which surrounded him here he would meet the best 
fruition of his powers. 

But his experience has been, alas, that which too frequently 
meets us in this world. The hard-won prizes come too late. 
The apple turns to ashes on the lip. The flower fades in the 
plucking. The curtain falls before the actor hears the plaudits 
of those he sought to please. Evan Settlk's work is done. 
I trust that I shall not here offend the proprieties with undue 
laudation; but I do feel that every man that knew him in this 
life will join with me in saying, whatever may have been his 
faults, he was the highest type of a Christian gentleman in its 
truest and best sense — a gentleman. In two years of daily 
intercourse I never heard fall from his lips one word that might 
not have been uttered in the presence of wife or daughter. 

Mr. Speaker, what rests for us beyond the grave we do not 
know. No man's eye has ever penetrated the mysteries which 
shroud the tomb. 

Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust, 
(Since He who knows our needs is just), 
That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. 



22 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

And in that meeting place of noble souls I believe there will 
still be found God's work for manly men and loving women, 
and in that place and in that work I believe Evan E. Settle 
is to-day taking a gracious and a generous part. 

Mr. Speaker, for the love I bore him living, for the fragrant 
memory I cherish of him dead, I come to render this poor 
tribute of my affection and respect to-day. 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BRANTLEY, OF GEORGIA. 

Mr. Speaker: We meet to-day to pay tribute to the memory 
of our departed colleague, Evan E. Settle, and it becomes 
me as one who in life called him friend, and who now loves his 
memory, to find as best I can the words that will fitly and aptly 
ascribe to him the virtues he possessed and the rare gifts with 
which he was endowed. 

I am painfully conscious of the paucity of the language at 
my command for this purpose and of my inability to do even 
the simplest justice to the name he left behind him, and yet I 
am sustained in my undertaking by the knowledge that his 
memory will ever live in the hearts of those who knew him, 
and that no charm of rhetoric or melody of speech can brighten 
it, or even picture it, as it glows and lives within us. 

He has "gone before to that unknown and silent shore," 
and I mourn his removal from among us, and because I mourn 
I seek now to add my own weak tribute to the eloquent words 
that have already been so earnestly spoken concerning him. 

When the wires a few short months ago flashed across our 
land the announcement of his death there came to all who knew 
him a sense of loss and pain akin to the shock of a personal 
bereavement. It was fitly so, for none knew him but to love 
him, and none knew him but then and now mourn his untimely 
end. 

When we left him at the close of the Fifty-fifth Congress he 
was possessed of his full, manly vigor, and, as we supposed, 
with long years of usefulness and of honor before him. He 



24 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

had been reelected to this Congress, and here we expected to 
find him upon our return. 

Little did we know that his days had then been numbered, 
and that the end was nearly reached, and that never more would 
he answer to the roll call of this House. 

Our ignorance there but again confirms the oft-repeated 
lesson that mortal man is not in the confidence of the Giver of 
life and death, and knoweth not what decrees He has entered 
or when they will be enforced. We are again admonished to 
keep our houses in order and to be ready for the final summons 
to us. 

The great ability and superb oratory of Mr. Settle were 
permitted to illume but one Congress, and yet in that brief 
space of time he was allowed to achieve as much of fame and 
renown as comes to some in many terms, and more than ever 
comes to many others. The compensating law of an all- wise 
Providence is here, as everywhere, disclosed, if we but seek to 
find it. 

I well remember his first appearance in an extended debate. 
The occasion was a contested-election case that had been 
reported from the committe of which he was a member. When 
he arose to speak, his intellectual face and clear, clean-cut 
features and attractive presence at once claimed the attention of 
the House. His opening sentences chained that attention to 
him, and there it remained until he had concluded. 

I can recall now the music of his sweetly modulated voice 
and the rhythm of his well-chosen words as he constructed 
sentence after sentence of masterful logic, of keenest satire, 
and ol" eloquent and polished periods. That speech estab- 
lished his reputation as an orator and won for him a place 
in the front ranks of the great debaters of the House — a 
place which he retained and from which he would have gone 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia. 25 

to higher stations yet had not death's icy hand laid claim 
upon him. 

We mourn that his eloquent tongue is forever silenced; we 
miss the charm and the spell of his rare oratory, and we 
miss his wise counsel in our deliberations; but more than 
these things we miss and mourn him. 

Few men were better gifted than he in the art of making 
and holding friends. He was warm and generous in his na- 
ture and as gentle and as sympathetic as a woman. Full of 
dignity, he was ever tender, yielding, and approachable. His 
was a strong nature, and yet one that was not formed in a 
rough and rugged mold. He did not display but concealed 
his strength in an affable and polished bearing. 

Always of pronounced convictions, he was slow to obtrude 
them, and was ever charitable to the opinions of those with 
whom he disagreed; but loyalty to his convictions and his 
friends was a part of his nature. 

His high character, his charming personality, his graceful 
manner, his delightful comradeship — these are the things that 
in the solemnity of this occasion come close to our hearts. 

Fashioned as he was, it was but natural that he should draw 
men to him and hold them there with hooks of steel. The hold 
that he had upon the hearts of men still lives, though he is 
gone from among them. 

It was not my privilege to know him until I met him here at 
the opening of the last Congress. Until that time his life and 
mine had never touched; and yet as he lived and moved among 
'us I saw enough of him to come within the charmed circle of 
his influence, and I was proud to know him and to claim him 
as my friend. I saw enough of him to appreciate his worth and 
to know that no truer or more ideal Representative ever sat in 
this Chamber, and none who better illustrated here the great 



26 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

State to which he claimed allegiance. Possessed of the chival- 
rous manhood and the lofty patriotism inherent in his own 
people, he not only adorned this body, but he was ever ready to 
do and to die in the defense of those he served. Indeed, it was 
at the feet of Kentucky, in battling, as he believed, for the 
preservation of her institutions and her ideals, that he laid down 
his life. 

It was when flushed with victories and while reveling in his 
own great strength, surrounded by loved ones, that "God's 
finger touched him, and he slept." 

Sorrow ever follows in the wake of death; but when the 
strong man becomes the victim, how pitiably weak is all human 
strength revealed! How infinitely sad to see the hope of fam- 
ily and of country cut down! How distressing to behold 
dependent ones bind up their bleeding hearts and seek else- 
where for guidance and for strength! 

It is not for us, however, to inquire into the ways of Provi- 
dence. We must bow in humble submission to the Divine will. 
Our colleague sleeps the eternal sleep; and while we can not 
arouse him, we can from the life he lived draw lessons of duty, 
of patriotism, and of love, and, thus inspired, carry on the work 
in which his labors shared. 

He sleeps, and no rude sound of jarring faction or clashing 
contention disturbs him. No pain of doubt or fear annoys 
him. No disappointment or failure threatens him. No weari- 
ness of body or of brain can reach him. Calmly and peacefully 
he slumbers, and earthly ills and earthly cares are not about 
him. His rest has come — a sacred, hallowed rest for heart and 
hand and brain — a sweet and everlasting rest. 

We say to him now, "Nobly you lived and bravely you died, 
and while we miss you and need yon, we would not if we could 
interrupt the peace and happiness that you have so fairly won. 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia. 27 

We would not bring you back to toil and strive again. You 
have kept the faith and paid the last great debt, and the crown 
of immortality is yours. We bid you wear it, while we, with 
unconcealed grief, mourn your absence and sing requiems of 
praise to the peerless and priceless memory that you have left 
behind for us to cherish and revere. ' ' 



28 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



Address of Mr, Mann, of Illinois, 

Mr. Speaker: Judge Settle and I were both new members 
and both placed on the Committee on Elections No. i of the 
last Congress. That committee was very busy at the session of 
Congress commencing two years ago last December. It had a 
number of hotly contested cases before it. Judge Settle was a 
new Democratic member and I was a new Republican member. 

We faced each other across the table, and we soon became 
congenial spirits. I think that our friendly relationship might 
properly have been termed affectionate. I grew to have a 
great admiration for him, as well as a great fondness. I 
thought I saw in him a wonderful ability, both oratorically 
and intellectually. And when at one time, in the winter 
during the short session of last year, Mr. Hope Reed Cody, the 
brilliant young president of the Hamilton Club, of Chicago, 
was in Washington and said to me that the Hamilton Club 
was preparing to give a great nonpartisan banquet in celebra- 
tion of Appomattox day and that he wished to obtain the 
finest speaker possible from the South to respond to the 
toast "Robert E. Lee," the thought of Settle instantly came 
to my mind, and I said to Mr. Cody at once, "I think I know 
the wry man whom you want." I went into the House, 
which was in session, and asked Mr. SETTLE if he would 
conic out and meet a very dear friend of mine. We went 
out, and I introduced them. They were both most brilliant 
and most lovable men. They seemed to almost fall in love with 
each other at sight. 

Cody stated the circumstances and asked Mr. SETTLE if he 
would make the speech which was desired. The Judge said 
that he would; and he afterwards told me that he could not 



Address of Mr. Mann, of Illinois. 29 

resist the winning way of Mr. Cody, although he did not see 
how it would be possible for him to keep his engagement with- 
out great trouble for himself. Probably the most triumphant 
appearance of his life was at that banquet. It was held in the 
immense hall of the Auditorium Building in Chicago. The 
parquet had been floored over on a level with the stage for the 
banquet tables. Nearly a thousand banqueters were present, 
while the balance of the hall was filled with upward of 2,000 
other guests of the club— both ladies and gentlemen. It was 
the most impressive banquet that I have ever witnessed. 

Gen. John C. Black, the gifted orator of Illinois, responded 

to the toast on General Grant in a brilliant speech. Judge 

Settle was not well known to the audience and not so much 

was expected of him. But he soon had completely captured it. 

His magnificent oration was the address of the evening. He 

had the audience in complete sympathy with him after the first 

sentences. As he proceeded the building rang with applause 

and approval. The heart of his audience seemed to reach 

out and embrace with sweetened thought the memory of the 

devoted commander of the Confederate armies. His speech was, 

of course, a prepared and written one, though he did not read it. 

The most remarkable scene I have ever witnessed in a public 

assemblage occurred during its delivery. The speaker had been 

referring, of course, to the great conflict both of thought and 

of arms between the North and the South; and the renewed 

expression of reconciliation growing out of and accompanying 

the Spanish war, when turning aside from his prepared effort 

and looking into the faces of his expectant and admiring 

audience, he said with a wonderful depth of love and pathos 

in commencing a new sentence: " My brothers. " The whole 

audience seemed at once as if by an electric shock to feel the 

inspiration of the sentiment of brotherhood. The entire gather- 



30 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

ing arose, as if one man, with cheers and shouts of approval 
and the waving of handkerchiefs and napkins, with the light of 
responsive love gleaming out of the faces of all and tears 
streaming down the cheeks of man}-. ( It was a sight never to 
be forgotten and never to be seen again. The tenderness of 
the expression of the speaker was so touching, the clear 
response of the audience was so instantaneous, that the very air 
seemed to thrill and throb. 

No man ever made a greater impression upon an audience 
anywhere. It seems to me now as though he had poured his 
life out into that speech. He was a man from the South who 
had come into the North to defend the memory of the one who 
had led the forces of the South in battle against many of the 
men whom he was to address. He was to speak about a lost 
cause, which the North had crushed at great loss of its blood 
and treasure. But he did not come with an apology. He was 
true to the memory of those who had been defeated and still 
truer to the reunited people. His address in Chicago endeared 
him to the people there. It added to their feeling of affection 
for the South. If he had lived, Chicago would have insisted 
upon hearing from him often again. But he has gone beyond. 
Cody, the gifted young leader who brought him to our city, 
went almost at the same time. 

The world could ill afford to spare either of them. But their 
memory and works are left us. What they did is an inspira- 
tion for our future. We must, with others, assume the bur- 
dens which they would have helped to carry. Let us try to 
emulate the sweetness of their temper, the brightness of their 
smile, the gladsonieness of their greeting, the intensity of their 
patriotism, the strength of their character, and the nobility of 
their souls. In loving admiration we still hold them in our 
hearts and minds. 



Address of Mr. Pitgh, of Kentucky. 31 



Address of Mr. Pugh, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker: If the present service in which the former 
associates of Evan Evans Settle are engaged were to consti- 
tute an essential part of the record of his virtues, the little that 
I might hope thus to contribute to perpetuate his memory 
would perhaps cause me to refrain from speaking; but I am 
conscious of the fact that however comprehensive the eulogium 
or elegant the diction in which it is couched, the real, the 
lasting, the ineffable record of the life and character of our 
departed friend has been formed by himself upon the hearts 
and in the lives of others. It was not my good fortune to have 
known him well in early life. Indeed, my intimate accmaint- 
ance with him, which soon developed into sentiment of personal 
friendship, began when we met as colleagues in this House. 

Although we did not agree in political matters, I was not 
long in discovering that in his magnanimous nature political 
differences constituted no barrier to the most cordial social 
relations, and being the only Republican colleague of his from 
Kentucky who now holds a seat on this floor, I should feel 
untrue to myself and false to that friendship if I should fail to 
bear testimony in some way to his great merit. Versed with 
the powers of oratory that few men possess, yet modest, unas- 
suming, unaffected, the very essence of simplicity and sincerity, 
he soon won his way to the hearts and high esteem of his 
associates. Skilled in the arts of an accomplished advocate, he 
disdained all manner of empiricism. With steadfast, patriotic 
purpose he sought for the truth in matters involving the welfare 
of the community, and at all times had the courage of his 
conviction. His soul was cast in too liberal a mold to suffer 
him to temporize for passing effect. 



32 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

It lias been said that ' ' crime is a curse only to the period in 
which it is successful; but virtue, whether fortunate or other- 
wise, blesses not only its own age, but remotest posterity, and 
is as beneficial by its example as by its immediate effects." 
The faults and frailties of men perish with them, while the good 
they do lives on and is multiplied through successive ages. 
Hence the service of this hour, a privilege cherished by us who 
loved him well, is, after all, the discharge of a public rather 
than a personal duty. 

He whose untimely loss gives occasion to our tributes was 
essentially self-made. Born to poverty, an orphan in childhood, 
struggling unaided against adverse surroundings, his intrinsic 
merit early manifested itself. His innate love for his fellow- 
man, his tender sympathy for the disappointed, the distressed, 
and the afflicted, coupled with an unusual personal magnetism, 
drew to him a lucrative clientage and an invaluable support, 
inseparable throughout his career. As a lawyer and as an 
official he soon achieved marked distinction, always retained 
and ever increasing ; but the beautiful story of his life clusters 
about his hearthstone, his social and religious associations. 
Eminently domestic, self-sacrificing, and considerate, a com- 
panionable husband, an exemplary father, in the very noontide 
of vigorous manhood, when "his eye was not dim nor his 
natural force abated," he was suddenly summoned to the last 
final awakening, and, without fear or murmur, passed into "that 
port where all may find refuge from the storms of life." 

Reverting for a moment to that misty Sabbath day and the 
scenes connected with the last sad rites: One glimpse at the 
overcrowded church where he had for wars been a faithful wor- 
shiper, the wilderness of floral offerings about the open casket, 
the wreathed and vacant chair in which he was wont to sit with 
closed eyes while leading tin- choir in sacred song, the saddened 



Address of Mr. Pugh, of Kentucky. ^ 

faces of the neighbors in the different walks of life, the tenderly 
touching tributes of family and friends, told it all as tongue can 
not tell. 

He is gone. We deeply deplore his loss. We long m vain 
for ' ' the touch of the vanished hand and the sound of the voice 
that is still." Such, nevertheless, is death; and vet- 
Death is the crown of life: 

Were death denied, poor man would live in vain. 

Death wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign; 

Spring from our fetters, fasten to the skies, 

Where blooming Eden withers from our sight. 

This king of terrors is the prince of peace. 

Then rest, dear friend, in peace; the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding. 
H. Doc. 751 3 



34 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



Address of Mr. Berry, of Kentucky, 

Mr. Speaker: Hon. Evan Settle was born December i, 
1848. His life was passed in Kentucky, where he died Novem- 
ber 16, 1899. He was educated in the best schools of his State, 
and when but 17 years old began the study of law, for which he 
had a natural adaptability. At the age of 19 years he was ad- 
mitted to the bar by special act of the legislature, and soon took 
a good position in his profession. He represented the Seventh 
Congressional district of Kentucky, one that had been made 
famous by Henry Clay, Marshall, John C. Breckinridge, John J. 
Crittenden, James P. Beck, Joseph C. Blackburn, and W. C. P. 
Breckinridge, all of whom had enjoyed national reputations. 

His service in local positions and his brilliant career in the 
Kentucky legislature fitted him for the position of Congressman. 
His ability was soon recognized by associates upon this floor in 
the Fifty-fifth Congress. He stood for reelection to the Fifty- 
sixth Congress and was chosen by an overwhelming majority. 
Our districts border upon each other, and we often addressed 
the same audiences, composed of about equal numbers of our 
constituencies. I know, therefore, in what high esteem he was 
held by his people, and our homes were not distant. 

After the adjournment sine die of the Fifty-fifth Congress and 
the members were scattered over the country seeking relaxation 
and pleasure, Evan Settle returned with his family to his 
home at Owenton. He was then the picture of health and 
manly vigor, the pride of the people he had so faithfully repre 
sented. His interesting family were gathered around him, and 
happiness reigned in his household. 

In the month of June the Democratic convention assembled 



Address of Mr. Berry, of Kentucky. 35 

at Louisville to nominate a State ticket. Mr. Settle was 
there representing "Sweet Owen," as his county is called, and, 
after a struggle such as was never seen in Kentucky before, a 
ticket was named. He at once announced his intention of 
canvassing the State for his party's interests, and immense 
crowds assembled whenever he was announced to speak. He 
gained new laurels in this canvass and added very much to his 
reputation as an orator, being far the most able of the can- 
vassers in the State upon either side. 

He never wearied in the work, sometimes speaking twice a 
day during the hot months of August and September, so that 
when the exciting canvass was closed he was broken down, and 
it was but a few days until the icy hand of death touched his 
noble heart. The statesman and orator and the loving hus- 
band and devoted father was gone. 

He was generous and brave, full of life, and for many years 
before his death was an earnest Christian, being a leader in the 
Baptist Church, delivering lectures to aid in paying the debt 
upon the church to which he belonged, and as his family grew 
up around him devoted much of his time to their improvement. 

He believed in that stanza of the poet — 

Home is not simply four straight walls 
Hung with frames and pictures gilded; 

Home is where affection calls, 

Home is where the heart has builded. 

When his sudden death was announced, I determined to 
attend his funeral. A short ride of an hour from Newport, 
Ky., brought us to Sparta, a station upon the railroad, from 
whence the Congressional party in carriages started for Owen- 
ton, the home of Mr. Settle, 12 miles away. 

Already the community showed evidences of sincere regret. 
A long line of vehicles were gathered, but the real evidence of 



36 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

mourning was not manifested until we approached the town. 
For many miles around from his own and from my district the 
best people had assembled by the thousand, in spite of inclem- 
ent weather, to pay respect to his memory, because they admired, 
yes, loved him; men and women, black and white, were gathered 
there to do honor to this tribune of the people. 

The laity mingled with the ministers of the gospel in praising 
the character of the deceased. For the usual church exercises 
on such occasions memorial services were instituted, and law- 
yers, politicians, and his associates in all the walks of life raised 
their voices in his praise. I have never seen such deep distress 
at a funeral. His loving family clung about the coffin with 
touching sorrow, and his little son, as the lid was placed upon the 
casket, closing out his father's face forever, exclaimed, " Good- 
bye, papa!" At that moment there was scarcely a dry eye in 
that assembled multitude, nor a heart that was not touched 
with the dramatic separation of father and son. It was heart- 
rending, and I shall long remember the scene. We extend to 
his lonely widow and distressed family our profoundest sympa- 
thy and trust that Providence will smile upon this fatherless 
household. 



Address of Mr. Griffith, of Indiana. 37 



Address of 'Mr, Griffith, of Indiana. 

Mr. Speaker: I do not rise for the purpose of giving a 
biographical sketch of Hon. Evan E. Settle, of Kentucky. 
That the man was born, that he died, and that while living he 
was honored with public office by the people of his community 
is true of every man upon whom a eulogy is delivered in the 
Halls of Congress. I want to send a message to the friends 
who loved him in his native State that we also loved him. I 
want to send a message, not of condolence, but of warm sym- 
pathy. Evan E. Settle was a lawyer, a statesman, and an 
orator. He might have been even a greater lawyer, a greater 
statesman, and a more fervid orator, and yet have been less 
loved. 

It is therefore not a tribute to the lawyer or the statesman, 
but one to the comrade and friend, that I wish to deliver to-day. 
Throughout his early life as a boy in Frankfort, in his young 
manhood in Kentucky, and in middle life, until his lips were 
touched by the frosty fingers of the Angel of Death and his 
heart was stilled, no man ever yet went to Evan E. Settle 
with an appeal to his friendship who appealed in vain. A foe- 
man who might well be dreaded in the court room or on the 
hustings, yet a companion even to his opponents, anywhere and 
everywhere always welcome. Nature endowed him with a 
great brain — too great to discover the faults of his friends, too 
great to harbor enmity for those who opposed him. 

His heart was so full of the love for others that there was 
no room for love of self, and at the close of an active life he 



38 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

died poor because he could not withhold any favor which 
might be asked of him or withstand the pleadings of others 
in distress. 

This was Evan E. Settle as the boy; it was Evan E. 
Settee as a young man, and it was Evan E. Settle as 
we knew him in the Halls of Congress. We all remember 
how he referred to his early hatred of the doctrines of Cassius 
M. Clay and how earnestly he pleaded that the last days of 
the old veteran be made comfortable by financial recognition 
of his past services at the hands of the Federal Government. 
His portrayal of the financial condition of the old soldier, 
whose convictions were opposite to his own, will ever be re- 
membered by all who heard him. He opposed the President 
of the United States in his policies, but he called with fer- 
vent tongue for us to stand by that President because he was 
the President. Evan E. Settle was intensely American, 
and none loved his native State more dearly than he. He 
was first for the nation, then for his State of Kentucky, then 
for his people, and last for himself. The character of the 
man is best illustrated by one passage in his speech favoring 
the appropriation for the war with Spain. He said: 

I come to vmi in this great crisis to pledge to you Kentucky, the first- 
born child of the American Union, which is now ready, as she has ever 
been in every great emergency, to send her gallant soldiers to the field. 
They poured out their rich lifeblood upon the early battlefields of the 
Republic; they stormed the heights of Chapultepec and incarnadined the 
plains of Buena Vista and of Molino del Rey. In the womb of her great 
mother, Virginia, she helped win the battlefields of the Revolution, and 
there has been no crisis in our nation's history when she has not shone 
forth, a chief star in all this magnificent constellation of States. There 
stood old Kentucky then, ever eager for the fray, and there stands old 
Kentuckj ton 

The lawyer's record has been made up, the orator's voice has 

been hushed, and it only remains for us to-day to send a nies- 



Address of Mr. Griffith, of Indiana. 39 

sage to those who knew him best that he was also known and 
loved in the Congress of the United States. 

When the bill was passed removing Southern political disa- 
bilities, Evan E. Settle electrified the House with a patriotic 
speech, in which he said: 

I thank God that I have lived to see this day. We sometimes thought 
that the great war between the States was an unmitigated evil, but in the 
providence of God it, accompanied by other agencies, has proved a great 
blessing. That war was not of chance or of accident. It came as the 
winds come and as the storms come, and as all things else come- in 
response to the eternal purposes and behests of Him who "holds the 
wind in His fist and the hearts of men in the hollow of His hand." 

When valor and courage and endurance shall no longer command the 
praise of men, when tribute shall be denied to those who endured priva- 
tion without complaint and suffered all manner of sacrifices without mur- 
mur, then we might hesitate to unroll the curtain of that past and let its 
scenes pass in panorama before us. But Heaven forbid in this day, when 
one touch of nature has made us all akin, that I should fear in this pres- 
ence to hold up for admiration the prowess of the gallant boys in the 
trenches and in the fields, wearing the blue or wearing the gray, who gave 
to the cause of their country their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor. 

Mr. Speaker, the district which I have the honor to represent 
in the State of Indiana lies near a portion of the district repre- 
sented by Mr. SETTLE in the State of Kentucky. I knew Mr. 
SETTLE for many years before either of us became a member of 
this body. I met him in the courts of Kentucky and Indiana. 
I knew his private life. As a friend he was true as steel. As 
a foe he was magnanimous and forgiving.. At the bar he was 
ever fair and courteous, and a stanch adherent to the strictest 
ethics of his profession. He was a brave man— too brave a man 
to do an underhanded act. It was owing to his devotion to his 
political friends that he lost his life. During the exciting cam- 
paign in Kentucky he worked night and day, and, completely 
forgetting himself, he so labored in the cause of his friends that 



40 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

nature, unable to stand the strain, became prostrated. His 
death was directly caused by overwork, mental and physical. 
That work was not in his own behalf, but in the cause of his 
friends. The nation has lost an orator and a statesman while 
yet in his prime. His State has lost one of the most admirable 
of her citizens. 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Kentucky. 41 

Address of Mr, Smith, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker: I had known Evan E. Settle for more than 
twenty years before his death. Indeed, sir, our political lives 
were cast upon parallel lines. On the same day, in the year 
1878, we were both elected to the offices of county attorney 
of our respective counties, and likewise we both laid down the 
duties and honors of that station to become members of the 
lower house of the Kentucky general assembly, and while these 
occurrences were at different dates, yet we were at one and 
the same time members of that body, he of one house and I 
of the other. We were of the same political faith and practice, 
and often met in party councils, and always fought in the same 
line when the conflict was raging. But the pleasure of serv- 
ing in the same body with him was reserved for me until we 
were both, on the same date, elected for the first time to Con- 
gress, which was in 1896. His death, sir, therefore, was singu- 
larly sad to me because of my associations and connections with 
him. 

He was born in the city of Frankfort, Ky., on the 1st clay of 
December, 1848. There, in the capital of his State, an historic 
city that nestles so serenely in the valleys upon either side the 
winding Kentucky River, encircled by a lofty and beautiful 
chain of hills, in the midst of a brave, generous, and cultured 
population, he received his early education and was baptized 
with high and hallowed inspirations. 

In the calm of my unbroken reflections and undisturbed 
meditations upon the many admirable and noble qualities of 
mind and heart he possessed, I have often wondered to what 
extent they may have been traceable to the auspicious environ- 
ments of his youthful days. But human genius has not yet 



42 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

given to the world the rule of correctly estimating the influences 
exerted by early surroundings upon the subsequent lives and 
characters of men; yet that their touch is too lasting to be 
eradicated by the evolutions of growth and is visible here 
and there in the career of all is an unchallenged truth. 

He descended from a family eminently reputable in char- 
acter, though limited in fortune. So far as T am advised, he 
could claim no distinguished ancestors within the reflected 
light of whose splendid achievements he could rise with ease 
to glory and fame. Without the aid of fortune, the prestige 
and potentiality of a great family name, by his own inherent 
and unfailing powers of mind and spirit, intensified and invigo- 
rated by the fortuitous circumstances mentioned, he triumphed 
in the struggles and conflicts of his advancing career. He was 
endowed by nature with more than usual intellectual ability, 
a zealous, noble heart, a happy, cheerful disposition, which, 
under the energizing effect of his literary and professional 
courses, developed him into the courtly gentleman, the able 
lawyer, the patriotic statesman, and the magnificent orator 
that he was. 

In his young manhood he yielded to the promptings of his 
native fitness in the selection of his profession, and his brilliant 
successes and triumphs at the bar vindicated the wisdom and 
correctness of his choice. Before the courts he was always 
pleasing, learned, and forceful, but it was only when before a 
jury that lie rose to the full majesty of his matchless eloquence 
and displayed the unrivaled splendors of his talents. With a 
sense of honor tmswerved by the siren song of every tempter, he 
was ever mindful of the principles of fairness and observed the 
amenities that characterize the typical gentleman in every relati< in 
of life. lb- was as courteous, dignified, and honorable in the 
forum as he was gentle, charming, and lovable in his private life. 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Kentucky. 43 

His official labors began in the office of county attorney of 
Owen County, to which he was elected in 1878, and closed at his 
death with a membership in the Fifty-sixth Congress. His long, 
faithful, and excellent record in public office has been so well 
stated by my colleagues [Mr. Gayle and Mr. Berry] that it need 
not now be reiterated. I shall, however, add that Evan Settle, 
disliking no one, yet loved with unsurpassed devotion the great 
body of the people. He believed with a fixedness bom of an 
intelligent and profound consideration of the question that a 
strong" and independent citizenship was the surest, best hope and 
indispensable prerequisite to the perpetuity of our free institu- 
tions, and his whole official and political life was squared by this 
sound and wholesome doctrine. He was active and influential 
in every official circle to which the vicissitudes of fortune had 
assigned him, and it is no exaggeration to say of him that there 
was not one amongst the many new members in the Fifty-fifth 
Congress who made a more distinctive and permanent impres- 
sion upon his fellow-members than he. His resplendent virtues 
will be enshrined in the unfading memories of his appreciative 

colleagues. 

As a public speaker, whether upon the lecture platform, 
before the select and elite, or on the hustings, before the 
enthused and indiscriminating multitudes, he swayed one and 
all by the magical powers of his efforts, and they loved to linger 
upon his poetic strains and revel in the pleasures of his sublime 
sentiments. 

But the surest and safest test of the genuine nobility of any 
man's nature is to be found perhaps in the family circle. It is 
there that innumerable incidents and conditions arise that can 
appeal to and touch the kindest emotions of the truly good and 
great only. To know a man as he really is he must be seen, 
not under the glimmering of artifice so common in the public 



44 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

arena, but inspected rather under the searchlight and sheen of 
everyday life in his family relation. 

Measured by this exalted standard, our deceased colleague 
was an illustrious example of Christian manhood worthy of the 
emulation of ourselves and all who shall live after him. In his 
home there was an inexhaustible fountain of love whose pure 
streams of peace, happiness, and pleasure nourished the highest 
and best aspirations of the human heart. Surrounded by a 
true and tenderly loving wife, bright, attractive, and happy- 
hearted children, his home to him was the gem of the earth 
and the companionship of these loved ones the essence of life 
itself. But the charm of that blessed relation has been broken. 

Death is a silent and merciless reaper that with his trenchant 
blade gathers in a mysterious way from every field and in every 
season. The young, the middle-aged, and the old ; the humble, 
the sturdy, and the proud, one and all, succumb to the cycle's 
touch and pass with the swiftness of a breath that is spent. 
But man was created for a destiny that transcends the possibil- 
ities of human life within this sphere, and death is not annihi- 
lation. There is that in the lives of such men as our deceased 
colleague that gives us indisputable assurance that beyond the 
gaze of mortal eyes there is a realm in which the pure and just 
will live and move in untrammeled progression forever. 

Distressing and appalling, then, to his family and friends as 
was and has been the sad event of his transition, we doubt not 
that Ik- has been crowned with honors the world could not give 
and wreathed with laurels that i'adeth not away. 

And then, the Speaker pro tempore [Mr. Lanhamj, in pur- 
suance of the resolution heretofore adopted, and as a further 
mark of respect to the memory of the deceased (at 2 o'clock 
and is minutes p. m. ), declared the House adjourned until 12 
o'clock in. on Monday next. 



Proceedings in the Senate. 

May 28, 1900. 
Mr. Lindsay. Mr. President, I desire to give notice that on 
Tuesday, June 5, at 5 o'clock p. m., I will ask the Chair to lay 
before the Senate the resolutions from the House of Representa- 
tives upon the life, character, and public services of Hon. Evan 
E. Settle, late a Representative from the State of Kentucky. 

45 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

June 5, 1900. 
Mr. Lindsay. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before 
the Senate the resolutions of the House of Representatives 
concerning the death of Mr. Settle, late a member of that 

body. 

The President pro tempore. The Chair lays before the 
Senate the resolutions indicated by the Senator from Kentucky, 
which will be read: 

The Secretary read as follows: 

In the House of Representatives, April 21, 1900. 

Resolved That the business of the House be now suspended in order 
that suitable tribute be paid to the high character and eminent public 
services of the Hon. Evan E. SETTLE, late a distinguished member of 
the House of Representatives of the United States from the State of Ken- 

tU< xJsolved That as a mark of respect for the memory of the deceased the 
House at the conclusion of these memorial exercises, shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House transmit a copy of these resolu- 
tions to the family of the deceased statesman. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these proceedings to the Senate. 
Mr. Lindsay. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I 

send to the desk. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Kentucky 
submits resolutions, which will be read. 

The Secretary read as follows: 

Resolved That the Senate has heard with profound regret the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. Evan E. Settle, late a Representative from 
the State of Kentucky. . 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended in order 
that fitting tribute be paid to his memory. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on agreeing 

to the resolutions. 

47 



4«S Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LINDSAY, OF KENTUCKY. 

Mr. President: Evan E. Settle, late a member of the 
House of Representatives, died at his home in Owenton, Ky., 
in November last. He died in the prime of life, and when his 
apparently vigorous health gave promise of many years of use- 
fulness. His sudden and unexpected death shocked his friends 
in every portion of the Commonwealth that gave him birth and 
of which he was a distinguished citizen. 

He was born in Frankfort, the capital city of Kentucky, and 
there spent the earlier years of his life. His education he com- 
pleted as a graduate of the high school of the city of Louisville. 
He began the study of law whilst the merest youth, and was 
authorized to enter on the practice of his profession by a special 
legislative enactment before he had completed his twenty -first 
year. He located in Owenton, Owen County, and there fol- 
ic wed the vocation of a lawyer with gratifying success for thirty 
years. More than once he represented the county of Owen in 
the general assembly of Kentucky, and for many years was the 
leader of his party in the politics, State and national, of his own 
and the adjoining counties. He was chosen to serve the Ash- 
land district in the House of Representatives for the Fifty-fifth 
Congress, and without opposition in his own party was nomi- 
nated for reelection and subsequently reelected to serve in that 
House during the present Congress. 

In the enduring memorial to result from the present action of 
the two Houses of tin- National Legislature, I would have his 
name handed down to posterity in his real character and as 
typical of the life he actually lived. 

As a lawyer his standing was enviable, and as a wise conn- 



Address of Mr. Lindsay, of Kentucky. 49 

selor and eloquent advocate he had no superior. His service in 
the Federal Congress was too brief to rank him amongst the 
six or eight recognized leaders of the House of Representatives, 
yet his fellow-members bear cheerful testimony to the fact that 
he achieved during the two sessions he lived to serve more than 
many who eventually become leaders of that body succeed in 
accomplishing in three times that length of service. He satis- 
fied the requirements of an exacting constituency. He com- 
manded the respect of those who opposed his political affil- 
iations, and won and enjoyed the affectionate confidence and 
earnest support of those of his constituents who shared his 
political sentiments and convictions. This would be a high 
compliment to any man who might assume, as did Mr. Settle, 
to sit for a Congressional district that had been represented in 
the past by Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, John C. Breckin- 
ridge, and James B. Beck. 

Henry Clay died when Mr. Settle was yet an infant, but he 
enjoyed the privilege of living in the same town with John J. 
Crittenden, who survived until he was 14 years of age. He 
was the follower and supporter of Mr. Beck, and the personal 
friend and admirer of the great Kentuckian who presided over 
this body from March 4, 1857, to March, 1861, and who, though 
disfranchised and politically proscribed from the close of the 
civil war to the end of his life, was honored and loved by the 
people of Kentucky as no other man had ever been before, and 
I venture to say as no other man will ever be again. 

Around the little city in which our deceased colleague was 
born, and in which he spent the years of his boyhood, cluster 
all the historic memories of Kentucky, and within its limits, in 
the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen, sleep some of those 
who laid the foundations of the State, and many of those whose 
lives and achievements go to make up the history of the first-born 
H. Doc. 751 4 



50 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

American Commonwealth west of the Alleghenies. Among 
them Boone, the pioneer; Richard M. Johnson, the soldier, the 
Representative, the Senator, and Vice-President; McKee and 
young Henry Clay, soldiers who gave up their lives in the 
defense of American honor on the field of Buena Vista, the last 
two at the foot of a monumental shaft that bears the names and 
commemorates the heroism and soldierly qualities of the Ken- 
tuckians who fell in the Indian wars at home, at Tippecanoe, in 
the defense of our northern frontier during the war of 1812, and 
on the battlefields of Mexico. With these associations and amid 
these surroundings it was natural that young Settle should 
cultivate the ambition to serve his State and to enroll his name 
among those who honored it and whom its people delight to 
honor. 

This commendable ambition was not required to overcome the 
disadvantages of extreme poverty, but the daily exertions to 
meet the inevitable necessities of life moved hand in hand with 
the contest for advancement and promotion. Success most 
worthily won eventually came. It came as the legitimate result 
of personal superiority and honest labor and without the adven- 
titious aids or influences that attend on wealth. 

Evan Settle proved equal to the duties and responsibilities 
of all the official positions to which lie was called by the people 
among whom he lived, and carried with him to the grave a 
spotless name and an unsullied reputation. 

He was a party man in the strictest sense, but never a parti- 
san in the execution of a public trust. Yielding ready obedience 
to the mandates of his party authorities, he was far above the 
policy of proscription or intolerance in his relations with those 
who could not always see their way to such obedience. 

As citizen, neighbor, and friend, as husband and father, la- 
was even more attractive than in the walks of public life. 



Address of Mr. Lindsay, of Kentucky. 51 

Handsome and graceful in person, gracious but dignified in 
bearing, modest and unassuming in demeanor, he everywhere 
commanded attention, and by " the warmth of genial courtesy" 
won the kindly regard of everyone with whom he came in con- 
tact. 

Looking on the great crowd of friends and neighbors that 
stood around his grave when his remains came to be consigned 
to their eternal resting place, I felt that the scene gave convinc- 
ing testimony of the affectionate regard in which he was held 
by those with whom he had lived during the years of his man- 
hood, those who knew him best, and so knowing, loved him most. 

Too young to take part in the civil war, he was the repre- 
sentative of the generation that followed the changes wrought 
in the institutions, traditions, and domestic policies of our coun- 
try by the culminating events of that great conflict. Southern 
in all his instincts, he sympathized deeply with the people of 
the South in their efforts to regain the right of self-government 
through the renewed control of their State governments, but he 
had 110 resentments to gratify, no deep-seated prejudices to 
overcome, and no personal wrongs or injuries, real or supposed, 
to avenge. Proud of his State, he was jealous of Federal inter- 
ference with the legitimate exercise of her sovereign authority, 
but in all his instincts he was an American as well as a Ken- 
tuckiau. He based his conception of public duty on the con- 
viction that patriotism demands that the hopes and possibilities 
of the future shall be preferred by the people of both sections, 
the victors as well as the vanquished, to the exultation and the 
disappointments inseparably connected with and following inter- 
necine war. In harmony with this conviction he, on the occa- 
sion of the removal of the last vestige of Confederate disabili- 
ties, eloquently congratulated the country that out of our war 
with Spain we would come forth "new men and new women, 



52 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

clean even- whit, with sectional hate and sectional bitterness 
gone forever." 

He was a genial and wholesome companion, an ardent and 
faithful friend, a kind and considerate neighbor, an humble 
Christian, and in his domestic relations an affectionate and 
indulgent father, and a tender and loving husband. 

His life work in this world is finished. He sleeps with his 
fathers in the bosom of the State that gave him birth, and of 
which he never ceased to be a citizen. The memories that 
cluster round his name embellish, as they exemplify, the sub- 
lime truth that "there is no death," and that "the thing we 
call death is but another, sadder name for life." 



Address of Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire. 53 



ADDRESS OF MR. CHANDLER, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
Mr. President: When we contemplate the whole life of 
each of the older States of the Union as a historic entity to 
be judged like the whole life of any public individual, there are 
to be seen faults and virtues, foolish mistakes and wise actions, 
failures and achievements, excesses and self-restraints, hostili- 
ties and friendships, narrow sectionalism and broad nationalism, 
and in the end, in the year 1900, in the case of each State, we 
behold a complete record of which as a whole her citizens need 
not be ashamed, but, on the other hand, are justly proud. All 
black clouds to-day in any sky are but transitory, sure to be 
soon dispelled by the full glories of the noonday sun. 

It is not strange that Kentucky is a State whose people are 
quick to engage in deadly conflicts. The traits are inherited. 
A historian born in the State (Shaler, page 21) says: "This 
homicidal humor was no invention of Kentucky; it was in the 
fierce blood of their ancestors." Her territory was conquered 
from the savages by the bloody wars of her bold pioneers, who 
had nothing but self-help to give them success; their brave 
hearts, their strong arms, their keen eyes and ears, and their 
unerring rifles. 

Harrod, beginning in 1774, and Boone in 1775, with their 
comrades, seized the wilderness with little help from the parent 
State of Virginia, and amid turbulence and conflicts of all kinds 
at last separation was effected. The foundations of the new 
Commonwealth were laid, and on June 1, 1792, the indomitable 
people, only 75,000 in number, forced their way into the Union 
as the' fifteenth State-the second child of the old thirteen. 
They had done some of the hardest fighting of the Revolution 



54 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

against the British and their Indian allies. The same historian 
(Shaler, page 21 ) says: " The Kentucky spirit was the offspring 
of the Revolution. The combative spirit left by the Revolu- 
tionary war was elsewhere overwhelmed by the tide of com- 
mercial life; here it lived on, fed by tradition and by a nearly 
continuous combat down to the time of the rebellion." 

So peace did not come to Kentucky with her union with the 
othei States. The savage wars continued, and her sons were 
compelled to look, as before, to their own bravery and efforts and 
endurance for their preservation. Away to the east, over the 
Alleghenies, was the parent State from which they sprung and 
the feeble nation which they had so lately joined; but neither 
the mother State nor the nation sent adequate help to their 
struggling children who were conquering and holding for them 
the fertile regions of the interior of the country and pressing on 
to the occupation of the Mississippi Valley. 

Louisiana seemed likely, as a great Spanish colony, amply sup- 
plied with men and munitions of war through the broad Gulf 
and the majestic river, to threaten the very existence of the new 
State. The men of Kentucky justly demanded a vigorous policy 
from the National Government of the new Republic. Failing to 
arouse this, there were mntterings of discontent among the Ken- 
tuckians. There was some danger they would join the Wilkin- 
son scheme for a treaty with Spain and Burr's conspiracy to set 
up an independent government in the valley of the Father of 
Waters; but when the test came the- Americans of both sections 
were found wise and faithful and true. 

The men of Kentucky stayed with the Union and the Govern- 
ment of the Union stood by the colonists of Kentucky, and de 
termined that they should not have foreign neighbors on the 
west, but that the Atlantic seaboard States and the great moun- 
tain region of the Alleghenies and the broad valley of the Mis- 



Address of Mr. Chandler, of Nezv Hampshire. 55 

sissippi should be the soil of an enduring national republic. The 
firmness of the Kentucky riflemen, the fighters of "the dark 
and bloody ground," and the wisdom and patience and perti- 
nacity of Thomas Jefferson gave to us our inland empire and 
made us the great continental power we soon found ourselves 
to be. 

Although the causes of the war with England in is 12 did 
not appear to greatly concern the mountaineers of Kentucky, 
yet she sent 5,500 volunteers to the conflict, 1,500 to go to 
Hull at Detroit. They fought in the battle of Frenchton Fort, 
and saw the sad massacre of their forces by Proctor's Indians 
on the Raisin River. Her soldiers were with St. Clair in his 
defeat; and with Harrison's army they won the victory over 
Proctor on the Thames, when Colonel Johnson killed Tecum- 
seh. Some of them were in Perry's fleet on Lake Erie, and 
1,280 men, under General Thomas, fought with General Jack- 
son at New Orleans. 

Nor did the Kentuckians hold aloof from the Mexican war, 
although that also was not so important to them as to those 
new States beyond the great river which Kentucky's persist- 
ency and valor had contributed to secure to the American 
Union; and she sent to the armies of Taylor and Scott private 
soldiers and captains who were the bravest of the brave. 
Twenty-four hundred men were called for; ten thousand 
wanted to go. Zachary Taylor, William O. Butler, Thomas 
Marshall, John S. Williams, Henry Clay, jr., gave added luster 
to the honors of their State. General Taylor had, at Buena 
Vista, 4,759 men, 500, or one-fifth, of whom were Kentuckians; 
and General Scott had Williams's famous company at Cerro 
Gordo. 

But the hardest trials, the bloodiest battles, the most warlike 
experiences were to come to this fighting race during the war 



56 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

for secession in 1861. The sufferings of the border States of 
the South during the civil war were most pitiful. Every town, 
almost every family, saw a divided duty. The white popula- 
tion of the whole State was only 919,484. More than 40,000 
Kentuckians fought for the Confederacy. Out of a total Union 
enrollment of 133,493 citizens of military age 76,335 men 
entered the United States service. There were 7,000 more not 
mustered in and 10,000 home guards, so that 93,000 fought for 
the Union, according to the recorded facts, making in all on 
both sides ' ' a larger per cent of the population given to war 
than has ever been furnished by any modern State in a term of 
three years;" and there were unrecorded conflicts almost be- 
tween neighbors involving fierce struggles, misery in all forms, 
vast destruction of property, and woeful losses of life. The 
State was fought over from one end to the other, according to 
the varying fortunes of the war, until the bitterness of the 
strife engendered seemed likely never to yield — as, however, 
fortunately it has done, after a third of a century— to the 
beneficent influences of peace and reunion. 

With such an ancestry it is not to be expected that the 
present generation of Kentuckians should not be a combative 
race. They have necessarily inherited more than the people of 
any other State — self-reliance, self-will, tenacity of purpose, 
too much distrust of the people of other communities, natures 
too suspicious and too ready to take offense and to fight to an 
extreme in private and public quarrels. 

But it is not to l»e doubted that these extreme characteristics 
will correct themselves in time. The conditions for improve- 
ment, if such is needed, are in every way favorable. There 
has been very little foreign immigration into Kentucky. The 
historian says: "Kentucky has had the fortune to inherit a 
nearly pure English blood." Her people are exactly an Anglo- 



Address of Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire. 57 

Saxon race, with modifications wholly American, and they are 
to-day possessed by sentiments of the purest and strongest 
patriotism. 

They have every inducement to bring their beloved Common- 
wealth into the highest possible repute in the face of their sis- 
ter States and the whole civilized world. Let them consider 
their natural advantages. The magnificent hills are fertile to 
the very summits; the uplands and the lowlands— the meadows 
of their famous rivers— are capable of illimitable production; 
bounteous crops of hemp, grain, and tobacco reward the indus- 
trious toilers; salt, lime, coal, and iron exist in unstinted abun- 
dance; grassy fields sustain the finest horses and other domestic 
animals to be found in the world, while the glorious forests are 
in themselves fortunes to their owners, and the mild and 
healthy climate helps to nourish the bravest of men and the 
most beautiful of women. 

The progress of Christianity with civilization among such a 
people will not fail to develop in the end the best possible form 
of human government, and equally with every other section of 
the Union Kentucky will learn the benefits of self-control and 
respect for law. Our New England poet was not at heart out 
• of sympathy with the great military conflicts which have done 
so much for humanity, even when in one of his quiet Quaker 
moods he appealed -to his countrymen for peaceful ways: 

The burden of thy holy faith 

Is love and life, not hate and death. 

Oh, touch the hearts of men and show 
The power which in forbearance lies. 

This republican system of ours is still on trial as it begins 

the new century. Even the strengthening experiences of a 

hundred years have not lifted it beyond all peril, in view of its 

assumption of those new duties in our oriental possessions 



58 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

which have been forced upon us in the inevitable course of our 
unselfish and noble war for the liberation of the oppressed 
Cubans. Yet the hope of the world for popular government 
depends upon our success. The Swiss Republic has no inherent 
strength. The French Republic is far from sure stability. 
The Central and South American States abound in revolutions. 
The South African Republics are being crushed out of existence 
by the cruel greed of our mother country. So that this, our 
one great, most promising republic, must outlive all forms of 
danger if any governments of the people are to prevail among 
men. 

But we can survive as a pure democracy only by fidelity to 
these fundamental principles: ( i ) Obedience to law; (2 ) depend- 
ence for security to life, liberty, and property against crime 
upon due process of law; and (3) submission of the defeated 
party in every popular election to the will of the majority as 
expressed at the ballot box. This fidelity we must and shall 
not only promise, but maintain. Let us always be hopeful. 
Temporary disturbances and dangers will pass away. In every 
State of the Union intelligence and virtue, real manhood and 
the love of fair play, the civilization of which we boast and 
the Christianity whose spirit will not forsake us will triumph 
over every form of wrongdoing, until it may be truly said of 
every one of our forty-five noble Commonwealths, "Thy gen- 
tleness hath made me great." 

One among the first and foremost of Kentucky's sons most 
likely, so it seemed a few months ago, t<> help carry on the 
State to true and enduring renown, with no stain upon its ban 
ner, was Representative Evan E. Settle, of Owenton, whose 
memory we in this Senate Chamber to-day recall and honor. 
Born on December 1, [848, the civil war had ended when he 
was 17 years of age and began his career of usefulness and 



Address of Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire. 59 
prominence. With only a high-school education, he secured 
admission to the bar when he was less than 21 years old. 
While this advent into the practice of his profession without 
sufficient literary training had its disadvantages, there was this 
benefit: He was able to give the hopefulness and enthusiasm 
and untiring labors of his earliest youth to efforts toward actual 
success in his chosen calling. There was no failure. At once 
he sprung to the front and became a lawyer of eminence, an 
orator of superior powers. Two promotions soon came to him, 
as is usual in the case of such men bora to stand among the 
leaders in our communities; he was elected a county attorney 
and later became a member of the State legislature. 

After these experiences his position was assured, and even 
if he had remained at home and avoided further participation 
in politics, his character and career would have been highly 
creditable to his State. But new duties were before him; his 
friends, his neighbors, and his party associates called upon him, 
and he responded to their requests to change the current of his 
life and to enter Congress, which he did in 1896, from the old 
Ashland district, made famous by Henry Clay and kept in 
remembrance by a line of other distinguished Representatives. 
Unfortunately, he was not permitted a long service. In the 
State canvass of 1899 his overwork in speeches fatally weak- 
ened him, and he died in Kentucky on the 16th day of 
November. 

There is no difference of opinion concerning the character- 
istics of Mr. Settle. His knowledge of the law was full and 
ample. As an advocate before juries he was unsurpassed and 
had more than a due measure of success. As an orator he was 
attractive and fascinating. His speech in Congress on June 1, 
1898, when a bill removing from all citizens any disability to 
serve in the United States Army was passed, was a model of 



60 Lije and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

good taste and felicitous utterance, while his address before the 
Hamilton Club in the Auditorium at Chicago captured all hearts 
and gave him a national reputation. Better than all this, it 
may be truthfully said that he was a man of gentle nature, 
considerate and kind to all about him; a devoted husband and 
father; a beloved leader among the Baptists, who were the reli- 
gious pioneers in his State and still hold the first place, and 
who proudly claim him for their worthy son; an unselfish, gen- 
erous man, poor indeed in this world's goods, but lavish of what 
he had to give to his fellows — his time, his money, his help in 
every hour of need, good advice, and true and enduring friend- 
ship. 

Because the career just begun on a broad field of action of 
such a man as Mr. Settle was cut down, prematurely, as it 
seems to his family and intimate friends, they need not mourn 
without consolation. A higher wisdom than ours does all 
things well. He was fitted for work in the Master's Kingdom, 
and who shall say that it would have been better if he had been 
held back for inferior service in this lower sphere? 

The Good, they drop around us One by One, 

Like stars when morning breaks. Though lost to sight 

Around us are they still in Heaven's own light, 

Building their mansions in the purer zone 
Of the Invisible. 

The faith that this is a true vision should be our strongest 
help in time of pain and trouble and despondency. When Mr. 
Gladstone was asked in his latest days what one sentiment 
seemed to him to be most important to the progress of the 
human race, Ik- quickly replied, "Faith in the invisible." 
This undoubtedly is the highest stimulant to patient endurance 
and noble endeavor. 

Two days ago I stood alone looking from one of the galleries 



Address of Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire. 61 

down into the Senate Chamber. It was empty; there was no 
sight or sound of man. Closing my eyes, behold, I saw you 
all in your accustomed places and heard the familiar voices of 
to-day. Opening and again closing them, I saw another vision, 
the forms of those whom I have here known during the last 
thirteen years, but who have preceded me to the future world, 
and their accents came pleasingly to my ears. 

Hear the death roll: 
George Hearst. Randall L. Gibson. Calvin S. Brice. 

Iceland Standford. James B. Eustis. Joseph N. Dolph. 

EH Saulsbury. Ephraim K. Wilson. Nathan F. Dixon. 

Alfred H. Colquitt. Charles Gibson. Joseph H. Earle. 

Patrick Walsh. Francis B. Stockbridge. Isham G. Harris. 

Joseph E. Brown. James Z. George. Richard Coke. 

Daniel W. Voorhees. Edward C. Walthall. Justin S. Morrill. 
James F. Wilson. Algernon S. Paddock. Harrison H.Riddleberger. 

Preston B. Plumb. John R. McPherson. John S. Barbour. 

Bishop W. Perkins. Zebulon B. Vance. John E. Kenna. 

James B. Beck. Henry B. Payne. Philetus Sawyer. 

But I can not make them dead. They are not dead; but as 
surely as God liveth, and the great universe which we plainly 
see around us exists. in His keeping, they also are living and 
laboring, learning and loving, serving and rejoicing in their 
new homes among the stars, in the many mansions in the 
Father's house. 



62 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 



Address of Mr. Bate, of Tennessee. 

Mr. President: The Representative from Kentucky, the late 
Evan E. Settle, was from the old Ashland district, in the 
heart of Kentucky. Kentucky may be said to be the twin sister 
of Tennessee, whose people are in touch in almost every respect 
with those I in part represent in this Chamber. 

Kentucky had an infantry brigade, known as the Kentucky 
Brigade, which took a gallant and brilliant part on the Confed- 
erate side of our great interstate conflict and made a brilliant and 
distinctive feature. I was honored by having it for more than a 
year in my command. Kvax Skttle was too young to take 
part on either side. Numbers of his friends and kindred were 
in that command and now live in the district he represented and 
are my friends. 

For these reasons, if for no other, there mingles with the 
mournful pleasure of paying the last tribute to departed worth 
a sense of duty to the people he so well represented as well as 
to his memory. 

The short term of one Congress constituted the whole of his 
official political life, but in that short period his brilliant intellect 
and forceful character gave him a standing and an influence 
seldom gained in a much longer term of service. 

In many respects Mr. Settle was a man of remarkable traits 
of character, and won his position in his party's ranks by the 
strength of his convictions and the courage with which he main- 
tained them. An orator of force ami brilliancy, his campaigns, 
in thai State of orators and statesmen, were always attended by 
In-- numbers of voters, attracted not onl) by the force of his 
ties, but by the lovable traits of his character, which made 



Address of Mr. Bate, of Tennessee. 63 

an attractive personality. His thirty years of practice of the 
law placed him in the front rank of the strong and brilliant 
Owenton bar and justly won for him the reputation of a bril- 
liant advocate. 

His service in the legislature of Kentucky not only inured to 
the benefit of his constituents, but prepared him for the arena 
of the National House of Representatives, where at his first 
appearance he made the mark of distinction so seldom earned 
by Representatives in their first Congress. That he was a man 
of a high order of intellect, with ripened culture, is recognized 
by all who were drawn within the circle of his influence. 

He was an industrious and painstaking student, mastering 
the details of his subject and classifying them for their best pre- 
sentation. Ornate, but logical, seeking strength and force, 
looking to convincing and persuading, he ranked well among 
the great Representatives who have made that old Ashland dis- 
trict famous in the American Congress and in American his- 
tory. Mr. Clay seems to have left the impress of his oratory 
upon it, and I think it but the truth to say that more speci- 
mens of fine American orators have lived in and represented 
that Congressional district than any other in the United States. 
The tributes paid to Mr. Settle's memory in the House of 
Representatives by those who knew him best attest the high 
place he had won in that great assembly, and also emphasize 
the fact that traits of personal character exert an influence in 
the sphere of legislation sometimes greater than the highest 
abilities, and when these characteristics are combined, as they 
were in him, give an earnest of future success and usefulness, 
and further show that in politics there is a place for the amiable 
and the lovable, as well as for the able and the brilliant. 

It was in the restricted field of committee work, where indus- 
try, intelligence, and legal ability are exhibited and where the 



64 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

ties of part} 7 ceased to bias judgment and to exert their influence, 
that the diligence, industry, and abilities of Mr. SETTLE won 
that appreciation which gave his efforts on the floor their full 
effect. 

An earnest Christian gentleman, he devoted time and means 
to the building of the Baptist church, of which he was for many 
years a consistent and devoted member. 

His home circle was enriched by a devoted care and attention, 
where affection and duty united to secure happiness to wife and 
children. 

Evan Settle, Mr. President, was ambitious. His mental, 
moral, and physical make-up entitled him to be, for nature had 
provided him with elements of character and capacity to bring 
success in that line under the conditions that prevail in our 
country. 

It was not, however, that ambition which, with haughty brow, 
is " clothed with a beauty that bewilders thought and unthrones 
peace forever," nor that cold, selfish ambition "that turns the 
heart to ashes, with not a spring left in the bosom for the spirit's 
lip and then dies of its own thirst." His was an ambition to 
serve his country and his people in a manner that recognized 
all the relations of life and all duties that grow out of and 
correspond with those relations. 

Official place, with all its blandishments, could not allure him 
from his Christian faith or from that home circle where woman 
is queen and where love and tenderness abound. 

Although an idol of his personal friends and his political 
party, and always obedient to official duties, he never forgot the 
corresponding duties which belong to true manhood. 

The limits of his friendship, confined by no boundaries, 
extended over the State of Kentucky, where he achieved an 
enviable reputation as a political orator that necessarily threw 



Address of Mr. Bate, of Tennessee. 65 

him actively into a heated and exciting canvass which probably 

resulted in his death. The last convention of his party, the 

Democratic party, was probably the most exciting ever held in 

that State, and he left that convention to enter upon a contest 

which, trying and straining every organ of his constitution, 

resulted in prostrating his physical energies, and illness was 

followed by premature death — a sacrifice to party, which to 

him meant country, and illustrated the unselfish character of 

the man. 

' ' Low ambition and the thirst of praise ' ' had no place in his 

character. He found that life was duty, and in its true and 

faithful performance his ambition was gratified. 

Eorn for success he seemed, 

With grace to win, with heart to hold, 

With shining gifts that took all eyes, 

his short career was one of usefulness and good. 

And then he bore without abuse 
The grand old name of gentleman. 

One of the most attractive features that adorned his life, as 
all those who have paid tributes to his memory unite in saying, 
was the beautiful devotion and sweet domesticity that encircled 
his household. 

Hon. Mr. Smith, of the House of Representatives, who seems 
to have known him longest and best, speaks of his domestic 
relations in the following beautiful way : 

In his home there was an inexhaustible fountain of love, whose pure 
streams of peace, happiness, and pleasure nourished the highest and best 
aspirations of the human heart. .Surrounded by a true and tenderly loving 
wife, bright, attractive, and happy-hearted children, his home to him was 
the gem of the earth, and the companionship of those loved ones the 
essence of life itself. 

Mr. President, his love of home and all that that old Saxon 
word implies, inspired by a Christian faith, carried with it to 
H: Doc. 751 5 



66 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

him a charm as redolent as the rose. But "Thy scythe and 

glass, O Time, are not the emblems of thy gentler power," 

for thou cuttest down alike the rose and the thorn ; and now, 

although the rose is crushed, its aroma lingers to sweeten the 

history of his life. 

You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. 

Men with taste and habits and love of home, like Evan 
Settle, never forget the old home, with its latticed porch and 
trellised vine. The trump of fame, the love of glory, the 
applause of the multitude may stir for a while the ambition 
within, but there steals over them in the silent, quiet hour the 
dream of home, entrancing the soul like music. This love of 
home Evan Settee had. 

Mr. President, this home love — this soul of sentiment and 
music — was given an undying life by Howard Payne, so sweetly, 
so pathetically, that we never weary of hearing — 

'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam. 

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ; 

A' charm from the skies seemed to hallow us there, 

Which, seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. 

Tin- exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain ; 

Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again ; 

The birds singing gaily, that come at my call ; 

Give me them, and that peace of mind, dearer than all. 



Address of Mr. Carter, of Montana. 67 



Address of Mr. Carter, of Montana. 

Mr. President: Although not advised until a brief time ago 
that these exercises would take place in the Senate this even- 
ing, I can not allow this occasion to pass without offering my 
tribute of respect to the memory of this distinguished sou of 
Kentucky. 

Twenty-five years ago, when but 20 years of age, as a law 
student at Louisville, Ky., I became acquainted with Evan E. 
Settle, who resided then, and continued to reside until his 
death, at the town of Owen ton, in the northern part of that 
State. He was in the enjoyment of a lucrative law practice. 
His clients had abiding confidence in their counsel, and that 
confidence was well justified by the man's personal and profes- 
sional character. He was a man gifted with great wisdom and 
remarkable fluency of speech. He was genial, conservative, 
and kind in manner, respected by all his neighbors, esteemed 
by his professional associates, and considered, all in all, as one 
of the most profound young lawyers in the State of Kentucky. 

There was no limit to his future, if judged by the estimate 
of his neighbors. It was no surprise to me to learn that the 
people of the Congressional district in which Owen County is 
situated elected him to the high office of Representative in the 
National Congress. He came to the House of Representatives 
splendidly equipped for the service, well learned in the law, 
possessed of unimpeachable integrity, imbued with deep devo- 
tion to the interests of his people. Permeated throughout with 
a love of the General Government of the United States, he was 
indeed a fitting Representative for his splendid constituency in 
the State of Kentucky. 



68 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

He was a mild, kind, generous man. He was a Christian 
man. He believed in doing unto others as he would have 
others do unto him. Guided by this thought, he stood well at 
the bar of the State of Kentucky. His associates had confi- 
dence in his word, and no written stipulation was required in 
a case where Evan H. Settle extended the time for answer. 
His word was his bond, and upon it all who knew him relied 
with unswerving faith. 

I regarded him twenty-five years ago as one of the most bril- 
liant young men I had ever met. He was capable of express- 
ing himself upon any subject with which he was acquainted 
with fluency and with force. He was incapable of attempting 
to express himself upon a subject which he did not understand. 
Thus it was that when Mr. Settle addressed himself to the 
court or to the people upon any subject well-informed men 
gave attention, knowing that his words expressed thoughts and 
gave utterance to mature reflection. 

His career in the House of Representatives was creditable to 
him and to the State of Kentucky. The position which he had 
acquired at the bar of his native State was justified most amply 
in the position which, by common consent, was accorded to him 
in the National House of Representatives. 

In his death, Mr. President, in mature manhood, in the 
vigor and prime of Life, the State of Kentucky and the district 
which he so ably represented not only sustained a great loss, 
but our common country was called upon to mourn the 
untimely end of an able, conscientious, and patriotic statesman. 
Tin- suggestions of the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Chandler], culminating in a call of the roll of recently departed 
members of this body, broughl to my mind reflection which 
has often occupied my thoughts in connection with the public 
life of this Capitol. In the last twelve years we have witnessed 



Address of Mr. Carter, of Montana. 69 

the coming and the going of able, brilliant, worthy men in 
both branches of Congress. 

Just about the time friendships are thoroughly cemented, 
just about the time men begin to understand each other, when 
dispositions have become subjected to the test of complete 
analysis it too often happens that the friend and associate and 
colleague passes from the scene. It is one of the sad reflections 
connected with the public life of our country. The calling of 
the roll this afternoon brought back memories connected with 
the names that were mentioned that, upon reflection, will bring 
sadness to the hearts, if not tears to the eyes, of each and every 
member of this body. 

In the heat of debate, in the impatience which naturally 
follows long continued sessions of Congress, ill temper gives 
vent to unkind words and ungenerous thoughts, but upon an 
occasion of this kind we fully realize, we are compelled to 
realize that it is the duty of every man in public life to deal 
in a charitable way with all the frailties and shortcomings of 
the human nature of which we all partake. 

In the history of my brief experience in' this Capitol, extend- 
ing over only a dozen years-and that is a very brief time com- 
pared with the century that has gone and the centuries that are 
to come-I do not recall a single case where the indulgence of 
an unkind feeling or a base suspicion was entirely or even par- 
tially justified. 

On this occasion I feel, however, that we have no apology to 
make for infirmities. Mr. Settle was a well-rounded, well- 
equipped, thoroughly enlightened, and an entirely honorable 
gentleman. He was educated in the law schools of Kentucky. 
This Chamber has witnessed, not only in its delegations from 
the State in Senatorial capacities, but likewise in a great foren- 
sic contest which occurred here over thirty years ago, some- 



70 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

thing of the splendid capacity of the Kentucky lawyer. I do 
not believe that there is any State in this Union, Mr. President, 
that produces now, or has produced in the past, more thor- 
oughly accomplished and learned lawyers than the State of 
Kentucky. 

Mr. Settle came up to the standard of the Kentucky 
lawyer. He came up to the standard of the Kentucky states- 
man. He came up to the standard of the highly accomplished 
representative of the people. As an old-time acquaintance of 
our departed friend, it is to me a sad pleasure to be permitted 
to place this evidence of my respect and esteem for him upon 
the records of the Senate on this occasion. 



Address of Mr. Dcboe, of Kentucky. 71 



ADDRESS OF MR. DEBOE, OF KENTUCKY. 
Mr. President: As I remember the many faces that were 
here when I first entered this Chamber and are now pale in the 
cities of the dead, I am reminded that soon the summons will 
come to us all. Death seldom conies other than as an untimely 
visitor, no matter what the span of life may have been. 

The news of the death of Hon. Evan E. Settle, unex- 
pected as it was deplorable, caused a shock throughout the 
State in which he lived and where he numbered his friends by 
the thousands. 

In the very prime of life another heart has ceased to beat. 
Night came at noonday, and he passed over the desert of death 
into the unknown. It would be hard to find a more courteous 
and genial man than he, or one more ready to make friends and 
hold them. 

He was born in Frankfort, Ky., in 1848, and educated in the 
schools of that city and Louisville, where he graduated at the 
age of 18. He moved to Owen County, where he studied law 
and was admitted to the bar before his majority by a special act 
of the legislature. 

His unusual intelligence and ability as a young lawyer soon 
attracted the attention of his associates at the bar, as well as 
gained for him the respect and confidence of the public. He 
was gifted with many noble and valuable qualities of heart and 
brain which challenged the love and admiration of his neigh- 
bors. He was a man of pronounced opinion and individuality 
and force in the public affairs of his State some time before he 
came to the Congress of the United States. Three times he 
was elected county attorney of Owen County and served two 



■j 2 Life and Character of Evan E. Settle. 

terms with conspicuous ability in the legislature of the State. 
His capabilities and peculiar qualities and attractions, which 
endeared him to his political associates and qualified him for 
valuable public service, were quickly recognized by his con- 
stituency and the leaders of his party. Seldom. do we find one 
so richly endowed with the gift of eloquence and power of 
expression that he possessed, that power which not only enables 
the speaker to enthuse and hold the attention of his hearers, 
but to carry deep convictions to their minds. 

He was amiable, gentle, and kind in his treatment of his 
fellow-man, always recognizing and granting others the same 
rights and privileges he claimed for himself. 

It is difficult to understand, as we stand face to face with the 
great mystery that shrouds the world so often in sorrow, that 
one so full of life and usefulness should be summoned to eter- 
nity in the prime of his manhood. 

Mr. Settle w T as not blessed with the riches that often smooth 
the rugged pathway of life and aids one to easily climb the 
ladder of fame and renown. He was a self-made man and 
fought the battles of life unaided and alone, and belonged to 
that class of men who have made the history of this country 
richly shine with their deeds of valor and struggles for the wel- 
fare and happiness of mankind. 

It is only in our calm and reflective moments that we fully 
appreciate the noble and admirable qualities of such a man as 
lie was. 

In 1896 his party nominated and elected him to the Fifty- 
fifth Congress from the Seventh district of Kentucky, which 
had been made- historical in the United States Congress by such 
illustrious men as Henry Claw John C. Breckinridge, Tom 
Marshall, John J. Crittenden, James B. Beck, and W. C. 1'. 
Breckinridge'. While he was permitted to serve only a short 



Address of Mr. Debar, of Kentucky. 73 

time, he distinguished himself as but few new members ever do, 
and proved that he was worth}- of the confidence reposed in him 
by his people. Coming from this historical district, his every 
act was closely watched by his associates, and his friends were 
not disappointed when an opportunity presented itself for him 
to show his true worth and ability to succeed such distinguished 
and able men. 

His colleagues, irrespective of party, admired and respected 
him for his great worth and kindly and gentlemanly disposi- 
tion. He served his people faithfully and well, and in his 
death his State lost a noble sou and the nation a loyal and 
true servant. 

Mr. Settle's life, it is said, shone more beautifully in his 
home than anywhere else. He was most happy when sur- 
rounded by his faithful and devoted wife and his loving, cheer- 
ful and intelligent children. His beloved family have our most 
sincere sympathy in the dark hours of sorrow. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on the adop- 
tion of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Ken- 
tucky [Mr. Lindsay]. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. Lindsay. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect 
to the memory of Mr. Settle I ask that the Senate take a 
recess until 8 o'clock. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Kentuckv, 
as a further mark of respect, asks unanimous consent that the 
Senate take a recess until 8 o'clock. Without objection, it is 
so ordered. 

The Senate thereupon took a recess until 8 o'clock p. m. 
H. Doc. 751 6 



